Room 8

Room 8, a short film written and directed by James W. Griffiths, takes place in a Russian prison. British prisoner Ives (Tom Cullen) is taken to a new cell, where he meets the mysterious Shears (Michael Gould). In the cell, Ives finds a red box, which piques his interest. Unable to fight his curiosity, he opens the box, and is shocked at what he finds.

Watch the short to find out what's inside the box...

or an Arabian fairy tale about magic boxes and illusion price. impressive for story more than for CGI. seductive for atmosphere and for the desire who seems so normal. it is one of the most inspired films about essence of dictatorship. about freedom in Gulag. or about the clash against the dark reality. after its end remains the powerful feeling of fascination. the story is not exactly original. you know it from many mystery/fantastic stories . but the impression is the same. a box. red. and a lot of box of matches. that is all.

That was short but impressive. Really good job!

("Sorry, your review is too short." thats what im getting as an error :D So im gonna talk non sense cause of my english... or not? nvm now its long enough to submit :D Anyway have a nice day every1.)

A prisoner is locked up in a Soviet prison, a grim setting from the start. Very good cinematography - the sense of claustrophobia is palpable. We're then offered a genre flip when the prisoner is tempted by another to touch a red wooden box.

Well, I won't give any spoilers away but you won't be disappointed!

This is a good solid and original short. The intrigue works well and builds to a good conclusion.

6/10

I would not class ROOM 8 as a short but more a sketch. On finding this film on Short of the Week I learnt that it was part of a competition in 2012 where five films were based on the same script by Geoffrey Fletcher himself. Of the five only two were interesting ROOM 8 and THE MRS. As THE MRS. has no IMDb page, I can only really comment on Room 8. As I said earlier, Room 8 is more of a sketch then it is a short film because it has no real story but a demonstration of how to achieve good CGI effects on a generous short film budget. (By the way, I am still puzzled where the budget was spent on THE MRS.) Where The Mrs. has a clear story with an imagined back story of two interesting characters; Room 8 does not invite us to invest any emotion in the characters or story. All the while we are led towards an awesome revelation; an awesome effect. And all the while I was asking but why is this happening? Why is the antagonist doing what he is doing? Once again based on pure production value, under so called short is paraded as being good but alas so called curators and decision makers are handicapping filmmakers and writers by celebrating the spectacle instead of celebrating the need for story. I am sure possible readers of this review and other reviews by me will say that I am expecting too much but my response to them is WHY NOT? If I am to give up 7 minutes or more to watch something, I would like for it to be awesome on the whole.